An unfiltered account of being an SF writer

Awards Time Has Come! My Eligible Works and Recommendations

I’ve always felt weird about blogging or signal boosting myself for award nominations – something about being like “Hey, look at me!” has never sat well with me, as a writer or as a person in general. But the Nebula nomination period has opened, Hugo nominations are on the horizon, and I see a bunch of my colleagues posting not just about their own stuff, but also about fiction they’ve read and loved for people to consider nominating. That seems way more my speed, so I’ll be doing the same!

My criteria for a truly awesome novel or short story is characters that jump off the page and make me root for them (or loathe them), engaging storytelling and worldbuilding that’s fresh and interesting but also accessible. Below are my recommended reads for 2018 in novels, novellas and anthologies, followed by the short fiction I’ve written which I’d love to see nominated. I spent a good portion of the year getting caught up on books published in earlier years, so my list isn’t huge, but hopefully it’s helpful to people (I imagine I’ll add to this later when I realize I’ve left something off by mistake). Happy reading!